This is me building a prototype for six hours straight. This is slave labor to my own project. This is what the DIY and maker movements really look like. And this is an analogy for today's construction and manufacturing world with brute-force assembly techniques. And this is exactly why I started studying how to program physical materials to build themselves.
這是我組裝的原型 它花了我整整六個小時 根本就是件苦差事 這正是 DIY 組裝和工人實際作業的模樣 這也表現出現今建造業與製造業 仰賴著如蠻力般的組裝技術 而這正是我為何開始研究 如何讓實體物質自我組裝
But there is another world. Today at the micro- and nanoscales, there's an unprecedented revolution happening. And this is the ability to program physical and biological materials to change shape, change properties and even compute outside of silicon-based matter. There's even a software called cadnano that allows us to design three-dimensional shapes like nano robots or drug delivery systems and use DNA to self-assemble those functional structures.
但其實還有個全然不同的領域 如今在微米、甚至是奈米的層級下 正進行著前所未有的革命 而這也使我們有辦法設計物理及生物材料 讓這些材料可以改變其形體與特性 甚至矽基以外的物質也有可能辦到 現在甚至還有一套名為 cadnano 的軟體 讓我們能設計 3D 形體 像是奈米機器人或是藥物制放系統 又或是運用 DNA 去 自我組裝出具有功能的構造
But if we look at the human scale, there's massive problems that aren't being addressed by those nanoscale technologies. If we look at construction and manufacturing, there's major inefficiencies, energy consumption and excessive labor techniques. In infrastructure, let's just take one example. Take piping. In water pipes, we have fixed-capacity water pipes that have fixed flow rates, except for expensive pumps and valves. We bury them in the ground. If anything changes -- if the environment changes, the ground moves, or demand changes -- we have to start from scratch and take them out and replace them.
但如果應用在人類大小的層級中 會有個很大的問題 是奈米科技還未能解決的 放眼建造業及製造業 盡是低效率、耗能 和過度仰賴勞力的技術 讓我們看個基礎設施的例子 以水利運輸系統為例 以水管來說,都是固定容量、流速的管子 外加昂貴的泵和水閥 我們把水管埋在地下 但如果有任何變動,像是環境變遷 地殼移動、或是需求改變 我們就得挖出所有管線,並換上新的水管
So I'd like to propose that we can combine those two worlds, that we can combine the world of the nanoscale programmable adaptive materials and the built environment. And I don't mean automated machines. I don't just mean smart machines that replace humans. But I mean programmable materials that build themselves. And that's called self-assembly, which is a process by which disordered parts build an ordered structure through only local interaction.
因此我建議將兩者結合 將可編制的奈米級適性材料 與人工環境做結合 但我指的不是自動化設備 也不是要用智能化設備來取代人力 我指的是讓可編制的材料去自我建構 這就叫做自我組裝 這個過程就是讓一堆混亂的零組件 組裝成一個有組織的架構 僅僅藉由零組件的局部交互作用進行
So what do we need if we want to do this at the human scale? We need a few simple ingredients. The first ingredient is materials and geometry, and that needs to be tightly coupled with the energy source. And you can use passive energy -- so heat, shaking, pneumatics, gravity, magnetics. And then you need smartly designed interactions. And those interactions allow for error correction, and they allow the shapes to go from one state to another state.
如果我們打算運用在 人類層級中,還需要些什麼呢? 我們需要一些簡單的概念 首要概念就是材料和幾何原理 這些需要和能源緊密結合 我們可以使用被動式能源 像熱能、震動、氣動能、重力、磁力等 然後我們需要巧妙地設計這當中的交互作用 而這些交互作用還要能被錯誤修正 這些交互作用還可以讓物體 從一種形態轉換到另一種形態
So now I'm going to show you a number of projects that we've built, from one-dimensional, two-dimensional, three-dimensional and even four-dimensional systems. So in one-dimensional systems -- this is a project called the self-folding proteins. And the idea is that you take the three-dimensional structure of a protein -- in this case it's the crambin protein -- you take the backbone -- so no cross-linking, no environmental interactions -- and you break that down into a series of components. And then we embed elastic. And when I throw this up into the air and catch it, it has the full three-dimensional structure of the protein, all of the intricacies. And this gives us a tangible model of the three-dimensional protein and how it folds and all of the intricacies of the geometry. So we can study this as a physical, intuitive model. And we're also translating that into two-dimensional systems -- so flat sheets that can self-fold into three-dimensional structures.
現在要展示的是 我們之前做的一些專案 當中包括一維、二維、三維 甚至還有四維的系統 在一維系統裡 這裡有個名為「自我摺疊的蛋白質」的專案 概念就是利用蛋白質的 3D 結構 這裡我們用「花菜蛋白」來說明 以該蛋白主鏈來看 (沒有交叉鏈結也沒有環境交互作用干擾) 把它分解成一系列的元素零件 然後置入彈性這個特性 當我把它丟到半空中,然後接住 它就有了花菜蛋白完整的 三維結構和蛋白質複雜的特性 這項實體實驗表現出 三維蛋白質和其摺疊的過程 也表現出其中複雜的幾何特性 我們可以利用這樣的實際模型來做研究 以此類推應用在二維系統裡 讓平版結構可以自我摺疊成三維立體的結構
In three dimensions, we did a project last year at TEDGlobal with Autodesk and Arthur Olson where we looked at autonomous parts -- so individual parts not pre-connected that can come together on their own. And we built 500 of these glass beakers. They had different molecular structures inside and different colors that could be mixed and matched. And we gave them away to all the TEDsters. And so these became intuitive models to understand how molecular self-assembly works at the human scale. This is the polio virus. You shake it hard and it breaks apart. And then you shake it randomly and it starts to error correct and built the structure on its own. And this is demonstrating that through random energy, we can build non-random shapes.
去年在 TED Global 展示了一個三維系統的專案 是我們和 Autodesk 及 Arthur Olson 一起合作完成 在這個案子我們研究獨立運作的組件 如何能透過獨自的力量 從完全分離的狀況組接完成 另外我們做了五百個用作示範的錐形瓶 裡面代表不同的分子構造 這些構造還有不同的顏色 可以讓我們去搭配 然後我們把錐形瓶 給了所有的 TED 觀眾 這些模型幫助我們 以巨觀的角度理解 分子自我組成的方式 這是小兒麻痺症病毒 (脊髓灰質炎病毒) 經過劇烈搖晃之後會分裂 接著隨意搖晃瓶子 病毒模型就會開始 修正錯誤並進行自我組裝 這證實了我們能以不定的能量 組成規則的形狀
We even demonstrated that we can do this at a much larger scale. Last year at TED Long Beach, we built an installation that builds installations. The idea was, could we self-assemble furniture-scale objects? So we built a large rotating chamber, and people would come up and spin the chamber faster or slower, adding energy to the system and getting an intuitive understanding of how self-assembly works and how we could use this as a macroscale construction or manufacturing technique for products.
我們甚至可以擴大 自我組裝的應用規模 例如去年的 TED Long Beach 我們製造了一個可以製造其他設備的裝置 我們的概念是:像家具般大小的物體 能不能自我組裝呢? 因此我們做了一間巨大的滾動室 大家可以或快或慢 隨意地搖動它 提供能量給這座滾動室 進而理解自我組裝的過程 以及我們如何把自我組裝應用在 大規模建造業及製造業的生產技術
So remember, I said 4D. So today for the first time, we're unveiling a new project, which is a collaboration with Stratasys, and it's called 4D printing. The idea behind 4D printing is that you take multi-material 3D printing -- so you can deposit multiple materials -- and you add a new capability, which is transformation, that right off the bed, the parts can transform from one shape to another shape directly on their own. And this is like robotics without wires or motors. So you completely print this part, and it can transform into something else.
還記得我剛剛提到的四維 今天我們要開啟一項嶄新的專案 是和 Stratasys 公司合作開發 一項叫做 4D 輸出的技術 4D 輸出的概念就是 我們選用各式的材料去做 3D 輸出 藉著放入各式不同的材料 再置入新的功能 也就是轉型 造成根本改變 這些組件可以自己直接從一個型態轉型成另一個型態 這概念好比是不用接電線和馬達的機器人 你可以完整列印出這些零組件 然後它們可以轉型成別的構造
We also worked with Autodesk on a software they're developing called Project Cyborg. And this allows us to simulate this self-assembly behavior and try to optimize which parts are folding when. But most importantly, we can use this same software for the design of nanoscale self-assembly systems and human scale self-assembly systems. These are parts being printed with multi-material properties. Here's the first demonstration. A single strand dipped in water that completely self-folds on its own into the letters M I T. I'm biased. This is another part, single strand, dipped in a bigger tank that self-folds into a cube, a three-dimensional structure, on its own. So no human interaction. And we think this is the first time that a program and transformation has been embedded directly into the materials themselves. And it also might just be the manufacturing technique that allows us to produce more adaptive infrastructure in the future.
我們也和 Autodesk 合作一個 名為 Project Cyborg 的軟體 可以用來模擬自我組裝的形式 試著去操縱使各個組件在對的時間做摺疊 最重要的是我們可以用這個軟體 來研製奈米級的自我組裝系統 以及人體規格的自我組裝系統 這些要被列印的零組件原料 會有各式物質的特性 這裡是第一個範例 將一條單鍊浸入水中 它會自我摺疊 然後變成了 MIT 我這是老王賣瓜 另一個例子也是將一個 單鍊浸入更大的水箱中 它會自我摺疊成一個 3D 架構的立方體 完全沒有外力介入 這是第一次 有人將編程設計與轉型的概念 直接置入到物質本身 這也可以是一項製造技術 讓我們在未來可以 建造出更適性的基礎建設
So I know you're probably thinking, okay, that's cool, but how do we use any of this stuff for the built environment? So I've started a lab at MIT, and it's called the Self-Assembly Lab. And we're dedicated to trying to develop programmable materials for the built environment. And we think there's a few key sectors that have fairly near-term applications. One of those is in extreme environments. These are scenarios where it's difficult to build, our current construction techniques don't work, it's too large, it's too dangerous, it's expensive, too many parts. And space is a great example of that. We're trying to design new scenarios for space that have fully reconfigurable and self-assembly structures that can go from highly functional systems from one to another.
我想大家可能會想說 好吧!這是滿酷的! 但我們如何應用它們呢? 因此我在麻省理工學院開啟了一個實驗室 名為「自我組裝實驗室」 我們致力於發展可被編製的材質 以應用在人工環境上 我們認為這當中有幾項重點 可以立即應用上的 其中一項就是在極端環境裡的應用 這些例子顯示出某些艱難的環境 是以我們目前的建造技術所無法克服的 它可能太大、太危險、太昂貴、太多零件 外太空就是一個很好的例子 我們想要設計一個應用於外太空的方案 是一個可重新編置且自我組裝的構造 可以從一個功能系統轉為另一種功能的系統
Let's go back to infrastructure. In infrastructure, we're working with a company out of Boston called Geosyntec. And we're developing a new paradigm for piping. Imagine if water pipes could expand or contract to change capacity or change flow rate, or maybe even undulate like peristaltics to move the water themselves. So this isn't expensive pumps or valves. This is a completely programmable and adaptive pipe on its own.
我們回到先前基礎建設的例子 我們和一家名為 Geosyntec 的波士頓公司合作 一起開發一套全新的水力管線的配置 試想如果我們可以讓水管擴張或收縮 用以改變容量或流速 或是讓水自行呈波浪型向前蠕動 如此就和使用昂貴的泵和閥的系統是截然不同的 而是是一套可編製跟適應環境的水管系統
So I want to remind you today of the harsh realities of assembly in our world. These are complex things built with complex parts that come together in complex ways. So I would like to invite you from whatever industry you're from to join us in reinventing and reimagining the world, how things come together from the nanoscale to the human scale, so that we can go from a world like this to a world that's more like this.
所以我今天要告訴大家 在今日組裝上仍存在實際困難的環境裡 有著由複雜的零件所組成的複雜物品 用複雜的方式組織起來 所以不論你來自哪個行業領域 我希望大家能加入我們 和我們一起重新創造、重新想像這個世界 如何讓奈米層級的微等級 擴及到人類世界的尺度 所以我們可以讓現在的世界 變成這樣的世界(圖)
Thank you.
謝謝
(Applause)
(掌聲)